Whatmore 'ready' if offered India job

Dav Whatmore, the Bangladesh coach, says he has had "positive discussions" with Ravi Shastri, the Indian cricket manager, about the prospect of his taking the India job when his term with Bangladesh ends after the ongoing two-Test series.

"I had a short discussion with Ravi about taking up the job of coaching India and I have spoken in the affirmative," Whatmore told PTI. "The discussion centered round how interested I am. I am satisfied with the initial discussion. We are both satisfied. All I can say is I am ready for the challenge if the opportunity comes. I am ready to sink my teeth into the problems and find out a solution as the BCCI would want me to."

Six high-ranking BCCI officials, including president Sharad Pawar and secretary Niranjan Shah, were scheduled to arrive in Chittagong on Saturday to hold discussions with Whatmore.

India is one of the toughest coaching assignments with the publicity and the expectations but Whatmore said he was capable of working with 'star' players. "It's a question of man-management and how far one wants to take ones career forward and I have to deal with them individually if and when the time comes.

"I have had star material [to work with] always. When I coached Lancashire the first season was a disaster, but the second season was the best the county had in their entire cricketing history. And both the seasons they had nine of the England team players in the side and three overseas players who were stars too.

"Sri Lanka had players like Aravinda de Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga and [Asanka] Gurusinghe. They were big stars in their country. But I never found it difficult to handle them. What we tried to do was [ensure] that the practice sessions were meaningful. The tactical part was taken care of. The team meetings were exciting and vibrant. I was not the only one talking. That's the whole idea."